Victoriana or the first diet in history

Victoriana follows me everywhere lately. From being one of the major trends this Fall (although judging by the first few shows of the London Fashion Week frills and lace are here to stay through the Summer 2016!) to last week’s Great British Bake-off with its mysterious “tennis cake” (I might be the last person in Britain to get hooked on this show…). One could criticise the era for its vanity and narcissism, hypocrisy and double standard. Instead I choose to be grateful if only because it was quite possibly the birth of our contemporary angst stemming from the urge to keep up with the demand of our Instagram-perfect modern life while preserving basic values. Which simply makes it real.

And while high-neck blouses, ruffles and ribbons do nothing for the minimalist dresser in me I found myself strangely drawn to the era. Not the look per se but the idea of someone finally giving up on converting us all into boho-ism. Fed up with that effortless look that takes ages to put together I actually don’t mind, for a change, to start looking like I have indeed made an effort. And, oddly, feeling more honest about it.

Of course, my Victorian obsession would have to include food and diet. I am no expert on the history of dieting (don’t they give Ph.D.s on the subject? They should if they don’t) but I dare to claim that the first diet was born during that time. Diets until then seemed to be focused on healing and not on appearance. Anything from Ayurveda to religious fasts had health as their main objective. While it was late 19th and early 20th century when diets for weight reduction finally surfaced. Hey, that corset can only do so much! Did you know that back then having a waist in inches the same as your age was the goal for young ladies? Gotta love it.

A very brief research into the subject brought me to Fletcherism. We studied hundreds of dietary theories during my training but Fletcherism was never mentioned.

Horace Fletcher was an American health food enthusiast of the Victorian era who argued that food should be chewed thoroughly before being swallowed, that one should not eat when stressed and angry and one should know what’s in their food and where it comes from. That’s it. It was a few decades before calories or vitamins were discovered. As far as I am concerned we could have stopped there.

Let me tell you about a lovely client I had some time ago who wanted to lose weight, sort out her digestion having carried an IBS label for years and gain more energy. We worked together for a few weeks and got her on the right track. Then a three-week business trip came along.

She was freaking out. She was so worried about gaining the pounds that she had just lost. Terrified about having no control whatsoever over her meals and schedule. She came asking which foods to pack, which supplements to take and how to squeeze her exercise in. At first I was tempted to equip her with pages and pages of recommendations. Instead I sent her home empty-handed with a single suggestion of chewing her food as thoroughly as possible. Take a bite as big as you like but once the food is in your mouth it is the only thing you need to focus on. Chew and enjoy. Even if you miss a few seconds of the conversation during a business meal. No one ever went to prison for asking to repeat what has just been said.

It is hard enough to control where and when we eat. Sometimes it is even harder to control what we eat, what we put on our plate or what we order in a restaurant - it is so often a function of the mood, weather, or peer pressure? But let’s control what we actually can; i.e., what we do with the food after it touches our lips.

To finish the story, the client came back from the three-week trip having lost another 7 lbs, a great new habit, and a sense of calm that she can eat anything. I love this story.

So while for some Victoriana might mean a green light to play with frills, layers and lace without ever making a fashion faux pas, or looking like Madonna circa 1984 I seem to embrace the trend by slowing down to eat, always setting a table, and focusing on every bite. Only proper china seem to work for all those endless cups of tea so suitable for the London weather right now.

And in the land of outfits? I think I will settle for the art of subtle lace-flashing for now.

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